


Keeping you in my heart

by snowlino



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - High School, And homeless, Angst, Bullying, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Getting to Know Each Other, Han Jisung | Han is a Mess, Homelessness, Hwang Hyunjin & Lee Minho | Lee Know are Best Friends, Hwang Hyunjin is a Little Shit, Lee Minho | Lee Know-centric, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rich Lee Minho | Lee Know, but a good friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:00:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28602582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowlino/pseuds/snowlino
Summary: Minho’s silence leads Hyunjin to speak more about this Jisung person, “Nobody likes him, they never did and never will. How is a dirty mutt still roaming a prestigious school?” Hyunjin snorts, his eyes glowing with immense disgust, “he is so shameless and has no class. You should see him yourself, he is in the very back of this bus.”Hyunjin automatically shifts in his seat after his statement, and Minho mimics his moves. Right when Minho finds Jisung—it wasn’t difficult to spot Jisung when he was the only one at the very back of the bus—his breath temporarily comes to a halt. The boy has his earphones in, his head is tilted back, and his eyes are shut.“Doesn’t he look so dirty?” Hyunjin continues speaking.Dirty? Minho finds himself starstruck by Jisung’s beautiful facial features. His black hair is a little long, his oily bangs nears his cutely chubby cheeks. He drags his eyes down to his chapped lips—it’s just as perfect as his entire face. To Minho, Jisung isn't even near the word dirty.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 21
Kudos: 126





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Heya!! (=^･ω･^=)
> 
> I'm happy you chose to check this story out~ ☆ Please mind the tags, as there will be a lot of possibly triggering content in this story (I will add in more tags as the story continues.) A lot will happen here—mostly a heavy load of angst, but there will be some happy moments here and there! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading this story~~!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw// violence, physical harm

He adjusts his smooth black tie, grabs his burdensome backpack full of back-ache enabling books, and saunters out of his room. He steps down the pale marble stairs, and merely halfway down, he overhears a shattering of glass and a screech. His feet freeze like his heart, his eyes fix down at the living room where his mother is, crying. Crimson leaks from her scalp, glides down her cheek, her neck. Minho drops his gaze. Surrounding his mother are emerald shards of glass and droplets of her blood. 

“The seaweed soup tasted like water! You ruined my morning, bitch!” At the brutal curse, Minho shuts his eyes. It’s nothing new. Yells, curses, apologies, pain, it is all a daily occurrence. Can’t it all just wash away? “I will have to get a proper breakfast from a fast food place. I am going to be late for work!”

“Minho is there, stop.” Minho opens up his eyes, finding his mother gazing up at him. Her eyes gleaming with misery and water. “Breakfast is ready.” 

Minho draws in a breath and continues down the stairs. “Good morning,” he tells them in a whisper and passes through the living room to get to the dining room. He takes off his black designer backpack, props it against the leg of the table, and sets himself down onto the white cushioned dining chair. He picks up the soup spoon, submerges it into his bowl, and shovels the seaweed soup into his mouth. It doesn’t taste like water. It tastes amazing; it’s so warm as it travels down to his belly. As always, his father raged at mother for no reason. 

“How does it taste?” Minho tightens his grip on the spoon upon hearing his father's deep voice exploding into his ear. 

“It tastes completely fine,” Minho replies and lifts some more of the soup, “I like it.” And he sends the warm fluid into himself again. 

“Are you sure about that?” his father asks. Minho nods. “I apologize for ruining your morning and upsetting you. I am having an awful morning so far. I have to go to work now. I’m running out of time as I speak. Expect to see five hundred thousand won in your bank account by noon. I love you.”

Coldness flares against Minho’s pale skin from hearing the last three words from the grenade with a cactus tongue. The words that were supposed to make him feel warm and loved enough only prickled him—those words are meaningless when spoken by someone who imprisons another with violence and pain. 

A few minutes slip by, Minho’s mother sits down at the spot across from Minho. Her pale face no longer has on blood, she cleaned it off. Minho lets his eyes fall to his empty bowl. “Minho-ah, you must feel scared. Don’t be. Your father was just angry, forgive his actions.” His breath quivers at those words, droplets of lukewarm tears exit his eyes, and he abruptly stands. “Min—”

“Thank you for the meal,” he cuts her off with his small honey-like voice, picks up his backpack—not offering his mother a glance—and rushes out of this mind-torturing and pain-filled place. 

Minho arrives at the bus stop, which is a bit distant from where he lives. Since there is a small chunk of time remaining before the bus comes, Minho sits down and waits in the chilly morning autumn air. His teeth clatter, and he shoves his hands into his black coat’s pockets to give them warmth. 

Right on time, the bus arrives, and he gets in, greets the driver with a good-morning accompanied with a big smile. He scans his pass and walks through the aisle until he notices the face of his tall, handsome friend. 

He greets Minho with a smile that shimmers prettily like a diamond. Minho reflects the smile to him, makes his way over, and places himself down next to his friend. “Good morning,” Minho says to him in a gentle manner. 

“Morning!” His friend exclaims vibrantly through this dull cold morning. This is just him, Hwang Hyunjin: A rowdy, extremely well-loved kid who glistens with his top-tier looks, owns a quirky personality, and has a huge fan base at the prestigious private school they attend. Minho met him last year when Hyunjin was a first-year student. Hyunjin approached him first—knowing that Minho was the top junior—needing help with math, a subject Hyunjin has trouble understanding. They grew close through tutoring sessions, and now here they are. Even if they are opposites, they are still the greatest friends to each other.

“I have something to tell you,” Hyunjin says, plucking Minho out of his thoughts. Minho turns his head to Hyunjin and peers at his pretty face. “Do you know this one kid named Han Jisung?” Minho responds with a shake of his head. He never heard of this person. Minho doesn’t pay attention to people that are not close to him. “Lucky ass. He is in the same grade as me and in the same class. I feel miserable, and I am sure the others in my class do too because he smells so damn bad. It’s been going on for a week now. Does he not have a shower in his home?” 

Minho isn’t quite astonished by Hyunjin’s hurtful statement, but he chooses not to verbalize his concerns. 

Minho’s silence leads Hyunjin to speak more about this Jisung person, “Nobody likes him, they never did and never will. How is a dirty mutt still roaming a prestigious school?” Hyunjin snorts, his eyes glowing with immense disgust, “he is so shameless and has no class. You should see him yourself, he is in the very back of this bus.”

Hyunjin automatically shifts in his seat after his statement, and Minho mimics his moves. Right when Minho finds Jisung—it wasn’t difficult to spot Jisung when he was the only one at the very back of the bus—his breath temporarily comes to a halt. The boy has his earphones in, his head is tilted back, and his eyes are shut.

“Doesn’t he look so dirty?” Hyunjin continues speaking. 

_ Dirty?  _ Minho finds himself starstruck by Jisung’s beautiful facial features. His black hair is a little long, his oily bangs nears his cutely chubby cheeks. He drags his eyes down to his chapped lips—it’s just as perfect as his entire face. To Minho, Jisung isn't even  _ near _ the word dirty. 

Minho pops out of his trance when Jisung starts moving a little. Suddenly—as if Jisung sensed eyes on him—his lids opened, and he landed his dark orbs right on Minho. Blood rushes to Minho’s cheeks and ears from the embarrassment of being caught. To save himself, he sinks back into his seat, followed by Hyunjin, who cackles softly as he does.

“He looked offended. But I mean… who wouldn’t stare at a sloppy hopeless monkey,” Hyunjin expresses with disgust lingering in his voice. Those words are a major blow to Minho’s heart because he pities Jisung. 

  
  


───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Lunch rolls in and Minho walks past each table until he finds the one at the very back wall. It’s a table that Hyunjin owns; he calls it the vip table, and the only students who can sit there are the ones that are his friends or students that he has a strong liking for. So far, the only ones that sit there are Hyunjin’s friends. There are seven members at the table: Hyunjin, Minho, Ryujin, Jongho, Changbin, Seungmin, and Sunwoo. All of them are juniors except for Minho and Changbin, both seniors and in different classes. 

Minho settles himself down on the empty chair opposite of Hyunjin. Once Hyunjin offers Minho a shining smile, Minho lifts the pea-sized resentment he had towards his friend over the cruel words he had spoken of Jisung. Even if he is ill to some, Hyunjin shows that he is the greatest friend he can be. 

“I gathered some more news.” He tucks the strands of his long blonde hair behind his ear, and he leans forward a bit. “Jisung is homeless.” 

Jongho—seated beside Hyunjin—starts laughing. “Our classmate told us that she saw him sleeping in the alleyway. He is so miserable, life hates him.” 

And this is something he should be _ laughing _ about? Minho feels a hot flash of hurt shoot into his chest. His face begins to slowly warm up, tears threatening to expose themselves in his eyes.

“What are all of you talking about?” Changbin joins the table, placing himself down at the chair adjacent to Jongho. 

“Jisung,” Sunwoo answers, shoving his phone into the breast pocket of his navy blue blazer, “someone found out that Jisung doesn’t have a home anymore and now lives in the streets. It explains his stinkiness.”

“Gross,” Changbin responds, making an exaggerated expression of disgust. How further could Minho’s heart be damaged? “A student like him shouldn’t even be here. We need to tell the principal this.”

“Yeah, we need to get that skunk out of here,” Ryujin agrees. 

“N-no!” Minho finally breaks in, making them all surprised, “let’s leave him alone.” 

“There is no need to be nice, goody-two-shoes. Niceness doesn’t do any good to you because people will end up using you for granted. There are people who aren’t worthy of our respect, people like Han Jisung who ruins plenty of people’s days with his stinky ass self,” Sunwoo replies to Minho. Minho dips his head a bit in embarrassment. “Show strength by being bold.”

“Be quiet, stop telling him what to do,” Seungmin grumbles.

“Oh! Look!” Sunwoo chants out loud—neglecting Seungmin’s words, “Han Ji-skunk!” Ryujin snorts. 

Minho raises his head, seeing Jisung walking past tables, trying to find the right table for himself. He is in the center of several student’s attention; some were whispering things about him, others were making blatant disgusted expressions, and a few were overdramatically fake-gagging. It’s all painful to take in. 

“Minho, what are you crying about?” Jongho asks. Minho’s entire body freezes up in fear, not realizing he was crying until mentioned by Jongho. 

“Sorry,” Minho mutters and swiftly wipes away his tears. How embarrassing. 

“I think it’s because Jisung’s smell is getting all the way till here,” Hyunjin quips. 

Minho cuts his attention off his friends to focus on Jisung again. The latter finally finds himself a table. Once his butt lands on the chair, the students who were occupying that same table flocked from their places—immediately inhabiting a different table. He didn’t appear mind—he could be hurting a lot on the inside—and just puts his earphones in and eats all alone. 

Lonely. The eyes right on him. The twisted looks. The brutal whispers. 

Agony comes to Minho like a hurricane. He wants to get up from his spot and approach Jisung and offer his hand in friendship. The lonesome boy doesn’t deserve stares, words, and gestures filled with poison. No matter who he is, no matter what condition he is in, no matter how his life is, he is a boy that needs friendship and love. And Minho wants to hold onto his hand, warm him up and send him his heart. It’s all a  _ want _ . Minho couldn’t do these things for Jisung because he doesn’t have the courage to approach a person. He doesn’t categorize himself as a sociable person. People come to him first, he doesn’t come to people. 

Sorry, Jisung. 

Someone,  _ anyone _ , go to him with a true smile on your face, offer your hand in friendship. Because no matter who Jisung is, no matter what condition Jisung is in, no matter how Jisung’s life is, he is a boy that needs friendship and love. And Minho couldn’t be the one to hold onto his hand because, sorrowfully, he lacked the courage. He wishes he had it. 

“Earth to Minho,” Hyunjin calls out. Blinking twice, Minho comes out of his world and now chooses to focus on his friend. “I was talking about something important.” Minho nods for Hyunjin to elaborate. “I found the one. Her name is Kim Miyeon, she is so pretty, talented with art and she has my heart.” 

“You’re going to make all the other girls jealous.” Changbin laughs. 

“When are you planning on asking her out?” Sunwoo questions. 

“Somewhere around tomorrow, I have to practice pickup lines first,” Hyunjin replies with an arrogant smile, “I know I’m handsome, but I gotta show off my charms too. I have a lot of that too.” 

“There is no need for you to go that far,” Ryujin implies, “you confess, immediately you earn. Almost everyone here would die for you.” 

“That is so sweet of you to say,” Hyunjin coos, “I’m blessed with the bestest friends.” 

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

“Roses are red, violets are blue, all I need in my life is no one else but you.” Minho giggles at that line. Since the start of the bus ride, Hyunjin has been trying to figure out a perfect pickup line for the person that attracted him. He doesn’t need to work too hard. Minho agrees with Ryujin’s words; Hyunjin could confess, and people would accept. Because he is Hwang Hyunjin: Blessed with alluring and captivating looks that steals others' breaths, has a quirky personality, and much loyalty.

Hyunjin doesn’t stop speaking, producing some more silly pickup lines, “When you step into the room, my heart starts to beat very fast, you are the dream I want to achieve.” Hyunjin turns his body to Minho and places both of his hands on Minho’s shoulder. “Help me. Which one do you like?”

“The roses are red, violets are blue, all I need in my life is no one else but you one. I like its flow,” Minho answers, appeasing Hyunjin. 

“If you like it, then I like it too.” Hyunjin winks at him, and when the bus comes to a halt, he gets up. “See you tomorrow.” 

When Minho gets home, he switches out of his school uniform and changes into comfy clothes—an oversized branded black t-shirt and branded black sweats. He heads out of his room, descends the stairs, and finds his mother seated on the couch, her fingers deep in her dark hair, appearing to be stressed out.

Minho approaches her, grabbing her attention, and she gives Minho an obviously fake smile. “Mom, are you okay?”

“Minho-ah, you are such an angel, always trying to make sure if mummy is okay. Yes, I’m okay, dear,” she replies, expanding her smile, expanding Minho’s pain, “you must be hungry after such a long day at school, what do you want to eat?”

Minho shakes his head, not wanting to make his mother cook something for him. She is stressed out, she isn’t okay like how she said she was. And there is no other reason for this stress, it’s all father’s fault. He must’ve said or done something again. When will he stop? When will he open his eyes and see the pain he had been pushing in deeper, and deeper and—

“Minho, are you okay?” His mother asks, feeling concerned. 

“I’m not that hungry. I’ll just grab a snack and then read.” Minho offers his mother a fake smile and quickly heads for the kitchen. He opens the fridge, there is a lot there, but there is nothing in there he wants to eat. Maybe he should head to the convenience store. 

He draws in a breath, leaves the kitchen, doesn’t look at his mother, puts on his vans sneakers, and leaves the house. Minho halts in his steps when he sees his father pull into the driveway, returning from work. 

He gets out of his car and steps up to Minho. “Where are you going?”

“I’m just going to the convenience store to get some snacks. I’ll be back before it gets too dark.” 

His father nods. “Stay safe. If anything happens, call me.” Minho hums as a reply, gazes at him for another second, and then leaves. 

The bus takes him to the next stop, and he thanks the driver and exits. He walks through the busy sidewalk and enters a convenience store, greets the tired cashier with a good evening, and heads through aisles to find an appealing or tasty-looking snack or drink. In one aisle, he takes a banana yogurt drink, in another, he finds jelly candies. Final snack to get: chips. 

Minho heads to the chips aisle, and in that aisle, he finds another person. He is about to ignore that person and focus on getting chips, however, the navy blue color catches Minho’s attention right away. He stares at the blazer, it’s the exact same as the one Minho wears to school—this person  _ goes _ to the same school.

The student turns his head, and Minho’s breath catches in his throat when he sees that the student is Jisung. Like this, they remain staring at each other, Minho is unable to speak to him, and Jisung’s eyes aren’t revealing fondness or at least warmness. They are dead-cold, the ice crystals puncturing Minho’s body, giving him the chills. 

The latter makes a face. “Did you follow me here to torment me?” This is the first time Minho heard his voice, and it sounded pleasant. His words, however, weren’t pleasant.

“N-no, I didn’t,” quickly, Minho defends himself. Jisung angrily narrows his eyes at him, then drops his gaze to his worn-out grey Jansport backpack (he is wearing at his front) and zips it close—firing suspicion into Minho. “Are you by any chance… stealing?”

“What’s it to you?” Jisung spat, “Are you going to snitch on me?” 

Minho shakes his head, his face burning up. “I have no intention of doing that. Can I… pay for you? You can pick out whatever you want, and I’ll pay for everything.”

Jisung laughs sarcastically—cutting Minho in the heart—and then abruptly stops laughing and pulls on a scary expression. “I don’t need any of your fucking help. Don’t pretend to be kind to me. Even if I don’t know you well, I can tell from your eyes and actions that you are a shitty person. I may not fit in anymore at the school because of my living circumstances, but at least I am not crude like you and your friends.” By the words, Minho is stunned. No one ever called him a shitty person. But he feels that he could be one. 

Jisung glares at him for a few more seconds and then speeds away. Minho caught some of his smell: he smelled strongly of sweat, and yeah… he doesn’t smell that good. Minho isn’t the one to judge him, because he doesn’t care about his smell. The smell doesn’t define who Jisung is. 

“Yah! Not again…” Minho hears the cashier grumble in annoyance. Jisung must come here often to steal. Minho makes his way over to the cashier. “Some people are just so tiring to deal with. Especially students.”

Minho places his items onto the smooth counter. “I’m sorry about him… um, let him be… he is going through a lot.”

The cashier—Minho looks at her white name tag—Kim Minji, sucks in a sharp breath, not sounding too happy. “Do you know him?” She scans the items. 

Minho finally draws his gaze upwards to the cashier’s small, pretty face; she looks very young and doesn’t look like she is a strict type of person despite her rigid expression. 

“Yes, he attends the same school as me… he doesn’t have a home,” Minho answers meekly.

Worry stains over Minji’s face. “That explains his actions.” She emits a wistful sigh. “I completely understand his case and how he is living a difficult life…” she rubs her neck timidly. “But… _ ah! _ I don’t want to say the next part because I don’t want to sound selfish! I’m not a selfish person, really! I am just stressed out.”

“You can say it, I won’t judge.”

“Whenever he takes things, I pay thirty-five thousand won on his behalf. The money I earn is to pay off for college, but a lot of it goes to this register because of that boy. He comes to this store a lot, I think it’s because of me. I’m not cruel enough to call the police on him.” She drags out her bottom lip into a pout. “Hearing from you that he doesn’t have a home makes me feel bad for him. I’ll let him take food from here and pay for him. Letting a student have food is more important than college fees.”

The corners of Minho’s mouth lift by her words. She is kind. “I’ll pay, add an extra forty thousand won to my total.” 

Minji flutters her eyes in utter shock. “I feel like that is too much, but if that’s what your kind soul wants, then that’s okay.” Minji announces the new total, Minho pays, and she hands him the receipt. “I hope you have a nice night. You are such a sweet kid.” 

Minho gets flustered by the comment, and he partially hides his face from her view. “T-thank you. You have a nice night too.” He scurries out of the store, the heat still lingering on his face. 

He walks through the sidewalk, passing by a lot of small stores. He stops walking when he notices a group of people circling someone at the side of the building across from where Minho stands. Minho looks at his right side. Should he head this way instead? Out of sheer curiosity, he turns his head forward again, staring at the group of four—they look like the gangster types.

He sighs and looks up at the orange-pink sky, he should get home already. He shouldn’t worry his parents, and he told his father that he’d get home before it gets dark, he needs to keep his words.

“Hey! Look! That kid is wearing branded clothes!” Coldness moves up Minho’s body at the shout. He looks at them again, all of the men are staring at him fiercely like hungry lions getting ready to launch. Behind them stands… Jisung?! His body is against the wall, his eyes wide with alarm. 

The men start approaching Minho, this is a sign that he needs to run but he couldn’t listen to the sign, the pavement has a good hold on him. He can’t move, his heart begins accelerating, he can feel it hit against his chest. What to do, what to do, what to do.

“You appear to be carrying a lot, kid.” One of the men steps up close to him—he reeks of smoke—and the remaining men show up behind him, all with scary appearances to their faces. Minho only takes a single step back. “There is no need to be scared of us, kid. Give us what you have, and we will leave you alone.” The man that reeks of smoke snatches Minho’s shopping bag and hands it over to the man with a black bucket hat. 

The bucket-hat man looks into the bag and tuts. “What are you waiting for? Give us some more.”

Minho reaches into his pocket and—

“Leave him alone, he is a nobody,” Jisung blurts out, stopping Minho from pulling his wallet out of the pocket of his sweats. 

“He doesn’t look like a nobody,” the man that reeked of smoke replies—he must be the leader, since he is the one doing most of the talking—and he eyes Minho from head to toe. “He looks loaded.” 

Jisung steps around the gang, advances to Minho, curls his icy cold fingers tightly around Minho’s wrist, and then he starts running to the left, pulling Minho along. 

“What are you waiting for?” the smoke-reeking man bellows, “run after them, fools!”

Jisung doesn’t stop sprinting, and Minho, not having such impressive stamina or speed, gets out of breath quickly, and his sides begin to ache. When supposedly safe, Jisung stops with the running, and Minho doubles over and wheezes. 

“You’re lucky that I felt like helping you,” Jisung barks at him, stinging Minho in his chest. Minho straightens himself and catches Jisung taking a single step back, wanting to leave, “don’t follow me and don’t associate with me.” 

Minho balls his fists, digging his nails into his moist palms. “Jisung…” Jisung tilts his head slightly to the side and throws Minho a disdainful glare. “I am not… I… I’m not like the others…” 

“Your actions speak more than your words,” Jisung hisses at him and struts away. His words wound Minho in the heart. He sinks into the ground, tears gliding out of his eyes. Jisung is mistaking him, Minho isn’t like the others. He doesn’t judge, he doesn’t hate. He wants to be his friend, he wants to take him out of the acidic rain, and pull him away from those who offer him pain. 

Minho’s phone rings, he takes it out of his pocket and looks at the screen. It’s his father, so he immediately answers. “Yes, father?”

“How come you're not home yet?” 

Minho rises from the ground and begins to walk. “I’m on my way.”

“Do you want me to pick you up?” Minho gazes up at the sky, it’s growing darker. He wants to tell his father no, but he is also afraid of getting attacked by the gang, it would be better if he lets his father drive him home. 

“Yes, please,” Minho says to him. 

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

The next morning, Minho walks down the stairs slowly and cautiously he takes a peek at the living room. He doesn’t find either his mother or father there. He strolls to the dining room and finds his mother there drinking her glass of orange juice. She puts down her glass and looks over at Minho. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Minho replies and sits down. He picks up his chopsticks and begins eating his breakfast. 

“Where is father?” Minho asks when he swallows. 

His mother picks up her glass again and sighs. “He is with his doctor, he has an appointment today but will be going to work after that. There is nothing to worry about.” 

  
  
  
  


Minho gets inside the bus, trails through the aisle, and notices Hyunjin smiling and waving at him. “Good morning, Minho!”

“Good morning,” Minho replies and right before sitting down he glances at the back only to have grave disappointment fill his chest—Jisung isn’t there. Something like this shouldn’t upset Minho; Jisung was so cold-hearted yesterday and isn’t fond of Minho. However, it won't stop Minho from clasping tightly onto despair. 

“Why is my Minnie sad?” Hyunjin questions, his smile slipping away, “feed me your story, I may be able to make you feel better.” 

Slowly, Minho shakes his head. “Nothing is wrong. I’m just sleepy and tired.”

“Okay, anyway, I have good news to share with you. Jisung isn’t here on the bus today! He probably isn’t going to attend class today. My nose is going to have its peace today!” Hyunjin cheers, his smile plastered right back on his lips, “even the bus doesn’t smell today.” It never did. 

“Oh.” 

“You sound disappointed.” Hyunjin’s fog of enthusiasm fades away. 

“He was looking at the back of the bus, trying to find Jisung. I think he has the stink kink. He gets aroused by bad smells. And since Jisung isn’t here on the bus today, Minho can’t get the daily dose of his bad smell,” someone states, the voice resonating from the seat behind Minho. In immense hurt, Minho lowers his head.

In his peripheral vision, Minho sees Hyunjin staring at him, his expression rock-hard. Hyunjin turns around in his seat. “Don’t  _ ever _ talk disrespectfully of my friend. I will let you off with a warning. If I hear you say anymore shit,  _ I will fucking hurt you _ .”

Hyunjin shifts back in place and sets his hand on Minho’s shoulder. It’s a blessing to have a friend that cares about him a lot and protects him from others. Minho looks at Hyunjin and smiles at him, the corners of Hyunjin’s mouth quirk up too. 

The bus comes to a stop at their large high school, and Minho, Hyunjin, and a handful of other students that attend this school get out of the bus.

“Good morning, Mr.Choi,” Minho greets the hallway monitor that stands in front of the gates. 

Mr.Choi chuckles fondly, the corners of his eyes crinkled. “Good morning, Lee Minho.” 

Hyunjin sends the hall monitor his signature grin and briskly wraps his long slender fingers around Minho’s wrist. He quickly attempts to pull Minho away. Baffled, Minho looks up at him. 

“Hwang Hyunjin!” Mr.Choi shouts. Ah. Hyunjin stiffens up, releases his grip on Minho’s wrist, and the two of them turn around to Mr.Choi. The hall monitor looks furious as he scribbles something on his clipboard. “I see you didn’t dye your hair back to a natural color yet. Having colored hair that isn’t of natural colors is against this school's rules.” 

Hyunjin starts whining, “ _ But Mr.Choi _ , I am a student that loves being creative. I love expressing myself, and I do that by dying my hair. I love my hair blonde, and everyone else at this school does too, right Minho?” Minho naturally nods in agreement.

Mr.Choi taps the top of Hyunjin’s head with his pen. “Nonsense! I don’t care if you want to be creative with yourself. School rules are school rules and tomorrow I want to see you here with a natural hair color. If you show up with that blonde of yours, you will be spending some time in detention. Now you wouldn’t want that in your records, would you?” 

Hyunjin deflates. “No.”

“Great, now go.” Mr.Choi gestures to the school building. Right away, Hyunjin and Minho begin walking again. 

“So annoying!” Hyunjin punches the air with a displeased pout on his face. “This school should let us dye our hair. I can’t stand boring natural hair. How is it even affecting us? It’s just  _ hair _ .” 

“Right,” Minho replies without much thought of his words. He naturally agrees with his friend’s words because he wants to seem agreeable and wants to answer the way his friend would like to be answered. 

They enter inside the building, and that’s when Hyunjin suddenly grabs Minho’s shoulder and turns his body in his direction. “I have an idea! We should create a petition to abolish this stupid no hair dye rule. I know everyone will sign it if it is by me.” 

Minho’s lips curl up at the idea because he finds it funny that Hyunjin is willing to take things this far to have his blonde-hair rights. There is no point in taking things this far though, the school has so much more power than mere students. Hyunjin would benefit if he just follows the rules. But, Minho replies with something different than his beliefs, “If you want to. Students surely would happily help you out.” 

Hyunjin grins contentedly and hugs Minho. “You are such a supportive friend.” Then he releases him. “I’ll head to class and confess. Wish me luck!” 

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Minho reaches the vip table at the very back and right away gets dispirited when he doesn’t find Hyunjin there. Generally, Hyunjin, Ryujin, and Jongho (they share the same class) are the first to be at this table, and the rest appear later. Something must have blown in Hyunjin’s way.

Minho sits down at the seat opposite of Jongho and decides to ask, “Where is Hyunjin?” 

“He went home,” Ryujin replies. 

Minho grows worried for his supposedly sick friend. He was fine this morning. “Did he get sick?”

“In a way, yes,” Jongho is the one to respond this time, “he is lovesick because Miyeon rejected him. He wouldn’t stop crying in class and begged to be sent home. So the homeroom teacher had no other choice but to fulfill Hyunjin’s wishes.” 

Hyunjin must be significantly hurt from the rejection. He genuinely showed that he loved her and even put in some time to come up with pickup lines. 

The cafeteria falls silent and Minho, at this point, knows it has to do with Jisung’s arrival. Minho looks straight ahead and spots the boy turning his head left and right as he walks, trying to find an open spot. The students send him looks of disgust, pinch their noses shut to block off the stench. Their inhumane actions plummet Minho’s heart. Their sharp stares cut and hurt, their souls are nothing but dark. How is it strenuous to treat a student right? Why are their hearts blind to the difficulties Jisung’s faces in his life?

Like Jisung’s life, Minho’s life isn’t a rainbow as well. The rainbow never reveals itself because the heavy coatings of grey clouds always linger above their heads and send down sadness and pain. Minho deals with his hardships at home and keeps whatever happens at home, at home. No one knows what’s happening, not even Hyunjin. And Jisung lives a difficult life too, a million times more difficult than Minho’s because he doesn’t even have a roof over his head. 

“He is pathetic,” Ryujin speaks up, “he has no shame. How does he not get the idea that no one likes him? He should just eat in the bathroom because no one wants him here.”

Minho chooses to look at Jisung again. The latter manages to find a table and sits down. He looks so soulless and doesn’t touch his lunch. 

No one, not a single person, went up to Jisung with a true smile on their face, offering their hand in friendship. Because no matter who Jisung is, no matter what condition Jisung is in, no matter how Jisung’s life is, the others choose to leave him in the rain. 

“Minho-” Minho’s eyes hold their place on Jisung’s face. He wants to reach out to Jisung. Should he collect all of his scattered courage and stick all of it into his heart? He isn’t sure if Jisung would even accept him, the junior resents him. Or perhaps he was in a bad mood yesterday? Jongho claps—his hands very close to Minho’s face—it pulls Minho out of his deep thoughts. “You look lost.”

“He always looks lost, it’s nothing-” Seungmin silences Sunwoo with merely a sharp stare, the victim raises his hands in defense. “I apologize.” 

“It’s okay,” Minho replies and picks up his tray. He  _ will _ offer his hand to Jisung. 

“Where are you going?” Changbin asks.

Minho doesn’t answer—knowing that he will come across his friend’s disapproval—and he heads straight for the table that only Jisung occupies. Minho places down his tray and sits across from Jisung. 

The latter gazes at Minho, his dark eyes showing nothing but the grating cold. “What do you want from me this time?” His voice nips at Minho, enforcing goosebumps onto Minho’s pale skin. He could also feel all the students stares and could hear their whispers. He doesn’t need to question it, because he knows.  _ What is Lee Minho doing here at this table with a boy who just stinks? _ He wants to be his friend. 

“I…” Nervousness hinders Minho’s ability to continue with his words. The impatience Jisung radiates with the agitated look glazed on his face pushes Minho to say the next few words because he doesn’t want to keep Jisung in delay. “I want to be your friend.”

“Bullshit!” Jisung strikes the table with his fist, emitting gasps from other students all around this cafeteria. Minho feels so embarrassed and pained. Jisung rises from his seat. “Get the fuck away from me. Never show your face to-”

“The fuck you on about?” Changbin’s voice resounds. Minho whips his head to the right and sees Changbin standing there with the others behind him. They all share the same looks of outrage towards Jisung. 

Minho stands up, tears dripping from his eyes. “I—”

“Get behind us,” Changbin orders, “this skunk is about to go down.” Minho feels that he has no other choice but to submit to the order. He stands behind Sunwoo and scans around the cafeteria, finding several students staring right at them. He stops his scan and places his gaze back on Jisung, who appears remarkably apprehensive. 

“Don’t worry, Minho,” Ryujin says to him and places her hand on Minho’s shoulder.

Jongho steps up to Jisung and lifts his right arm, Minho notices a carton of milk in his hand. Right away, he gets a bad feeling about this. He wants to move forward and stop Jongho from doing anything to— it’s too late. Jongho spills the milk over Jisung’s black hair, the white contents stream down his face and stain his navy blue uniform. 

Minho’s mouth falls open, more hot tears dragging down his cheeks. 

Jisung’s eyes fill up with tears, they don’t spill.

“Is this milk shower the first shower you had in days?” Jongho throws the carton right at Jisung’s face. “It doesn’t look like it cleaned you enough.”

“Mess with Minho, you deal with us,” Changbin threatens. 

Minho felt tremendous amounts of guilt suffuse inside of him. Jisung isn’t at fault, Minho deserves the blame. He was the one to approach and anger him. 

“Hey! What’s going on here?!” The hallway monitor, Mr.Choi, comes rushing over to them. “What’s with this mess? Why are all of you fooling around?” 

“Jisung was bullying Minho,” Changbin states rapidly. 

Mr.Choi looks at Minho as a way to confirm Changbin’s words, and then he peers at Jisung in downright disappointment. “You need to treat other students with respect. I can’t believe a top junior like you would do such a thing to your senior. Come with me.” 

Minho watches with pain as Jisung and Mr.Choi head away. Minho draws in a breath, this is all unjust. Jisung didn’t do anything wrong. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was this chapter? Did you like it? (＾▽＾) tell me your thoughts in the comments.
> 
> Chapter updates will depend on my level of freedom (T_T) College is stressful, I get too much work, I want to cry— but I will make sure to update as quickly as I can!
> 
> Thank you for reading!!! Kudo's are very much appreciated! I hope you have a great day or night! baibai~💖


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heya~! 🌸 Long time no see (T_T) Sorry for disappearing, I was bombarded with so much work. But here I am now, with the second chapter ready! I hope you enjoy~~!! Tell me your thoughts in the comments~!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw// violence, physical harm

Minho gets on the bus, greets the driver as he always does, and in return receives a warm and welcoming smile from the driver like how he always does. It’s a smile that spawns warmth in Minho. 

He wanders through the aisle. His eyes situate themselves to the very back—yet again, Jisung doesn't inhabit the place. It seems like he is doing whatever it takes to be away from these heartless students that do nothing but mistreat him. It is saddening to see Jisung going through these measures to avoid brutal students who don't contain a crumb of sympathy for him. Jisung is homeless and struggling; why are these students humiliating him for being in an unfortunate situation? Why must they grab him and push him down? 

Minho slips into one of the seats in the middle section of the bus, taking the seat right next to the window. Hyunjin always sits by the window, he loves being by the window. At the thought of Hyunjin, Minho encounters dejection. The junior was hurt with rejection and left school early, and now Minho feels lonely. 

"Minho!" Minho pops out of his bubble when someone shouts his name. The high-pitched voice belonged to someone somewhere in the back, therefore, Minho had to turn in his spot and look at the student who was gazing at him with a faint grin on her face. "I have to ask you something very important. What is Hyunjin's type?"

"Hyunjin's type?" Minho replies, not positively sure of Hyunjin's type. Hyunjin is fairly picky when it comes to choosing someone. There is an ocean of students who love and admire Hyunjin, but he hasn't selected anyone from there. But he did choose Miyeon—the one not within the ocean—but he got unlucky, he seemingly isn't of her preference.

If he likes Miyeon, that could mean that his type might be someone with a personality or looks like hers. Minho tries to recall what Hyunjin had said about her—wasn't it something related to art? 

"I thought he was your best friend." The girl snorts, hauling Minho out of his thoughts and hurting his feelings. "You should know him well enough."

Another student's voice joins, "I think he is friends with Hyunjin only for his own benefit. Minho is hungry for—"

"Close your mouths. If you are this desperate, why don't you go to Hyunjin and ask him yourself instead of using Minho to get information?" Another student cuts in, this particular student takes the seat next to Minho. Minho shifts back into place and looks at the student's name tag—Choi Jisu—he has heard of that name before, particularly from Ryujin. She must be her classmate.

"Don't mind their words. They are the hungry ones," Jisu says. 

Minho chooses to stick to being silent. He doesn't feel quite well because the students' words are written in his mind—engulfing him in anguish. He  _ has _ to mind their words because they provide him with the realization of his actions towards Hyunjin. 

"Miss him?" Jisu's voice plucks the distressed Minho out of his thoughts. There is something he notices with her tone, it sounded a little off. Or it could be that he is overthinking. To respond to her question, Minho slowly nods. He does miss Hyunjin, even when he last saw him this morning. "Gosh, you are better than that. Jisung is an outcast." Ah, she is talking about Jisung—when will these students stop? "It is foolish of him to treat someone famous like you with disrespect. Refrain from wasting your energy on him." 

“I am not affected by his actions, nor am I affected by his words.” What did he just tell her? He  _ retaliated _ —now he can't take back his words. 

For a brief moment, Jisu looks stunned, then her expression shifts into something that mortifies Minho. What now overlays her face is wrath. 

“Ignorant,” says Jisu, the tune biting. That single word out of her mouth is more than enough to make Minho feel wrecked. She gets up from her spot, choosing to sit someplace else.

The word ignorant has no relation to Minho. They can spit out whatever word they want—it will hurt him, yet it will not shift his views on Jisung. Minho isn’t the one to cruelly judge someone. It had never been that way. The ones that are absolutely the ignorant ones are the ones who try to shove Jisung off the edge. Their hearts lack mercy. If only they could rip from their ignorance and take off the wickedness that rests within their dark hearts. 

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

12 AM. Minho finishes his homework and organizes his workbooks to the side of his desk, clearing up the center of his desk. He leans back against his chair, tilts his head back, and closes his eyes. His thoughts trail to Jisung, the junior he wants to be friends with but couldn't. The goal is stretched too far ahead, making it hard for Minho to reach. Jisung doesn't think Minho's words are true and shows disdain. Minho doesn't blame him. After all, he is friends with the popular kids, and he is pretty popular himself too. Jisung's assumptions and lack of trust are plausible. 

Minho opens his eyes and leans forward, placing his forearms to rest at the surface of his desk.  _ No _ . He can't plummet over Jisung's beliefs and make himself give up. He will reach the goal no matter how distant it is. He has to prove that he isn't like the others. He will do his very best to earn Jisung's full trust. 

Talking to Jisung face-to-face didn't and never had pleasing outcomes. Wouldn't it be better to resort to writing something genuine for Jisung? Minho deems himself better at writing out his feelings than speaking about them. His bashful self doesn't succeed when it comes to talking, but if he writes, he will do much more of a better job—Minho can get down so much more than he can speak out.

Minho makes his choice. He opens the middle drawer of his desk—the drawer he stores his printer paper in—pulls out a small stack of printer paper, sets it on his desk, and then plucks out a random pen from the pen holder. 

The hard part hits him. What should he write for Jisung? He needs this letter to be perfect. He wants to wash out his feelings in a way that would definitely shatter the disdain and mistrust that composes Jisung's heart. He has to be earnest and thorough. 

_ Dear Jisung,  _

_ I like you a lot, I really do, let's be good friends! _

Too awkward and lacking—Minho turns the paper into a ball and throws it aside—he needs to do better than that. He needs to appeal to Jisung. 

_ Hello, Jisung,  _

_ It's me, Minho. I want to tell you that I like you a lot and want to be friends with you.  _

That also turned out awkward—he crumbles up this sheet of paper too and tosses it away—he is starting to become frustrated. Maybe he isn't so great with writing out his feelings as he thought he was. But that doesn't mean he will stop trying, he will stop when the sleepiness knocks on him. Only then will he officially claim his failure and submit himself to his bed, with no letter ready for Jisung. 

_ Hello, Jisung,  _

_ This is Minho, writing out my truest feeling to you. I have liked you ever since the first time I looked at you. I wasn’t judging you, I was admiring you. You are so good-looking, and I think you are special and a great person no matter what others say about you.  _

Minho releases a sad-sounding huff and crumbles this paper up, and tosses it. He didn't like how this one turned out, he wrote that one so weirdly, and there is no doubt that Jisung would be weirded out if he had read that. 

Through writing and tossing the balls, through frequently sighing and his mind dying, he managed to conclude his letter. 

_ Hello, Jisung,  _

_ This is Minho writing to you. I know you don't seem to like me very much, but please don't mistake me. I do not view you like how other people do, you are worth more than your hardships. I think you are a great and strong person. I know I don't know you well enough, but I hope to get to know you well and become friends with you.  _

Minho feels remarkably exhausted, all presumably from the hard work he put into the letter that wasn't too good nor too bad. He looks at the time and notices that it is a little past 2. He gets off of his chair, turns off his desk lamp, and sinks into his bed with fresh sheets that smelled sweetly of cherry blossom. His drowsiness intensifies, and soon he slips into sleep. 

  
  


───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

  
  


Minho puts on his school uniform, heads to his desk, and picks up the letter he had written last night. He reads over it once more, checking to make sure it is fine enough to hand to Jisung. Delicately, he folds up the letter and places it in the breast pocket of his blazer for quick access. 

He finds his backpack, sets it on his chair, and picks up the needed workbooks that were in a neat pile at the side of his desk, and places them inside his bag. 

He leaves his room and reaches the stairs. Before he could descend the steps, his father roars. "You ironed the wrong suit! You never do anything right!" Minho peers at them from where he stands. His mother's eyes are frozen to the ground, displaying her fear. His father's eyes are set to mother's—gazing at her with tons of rage. 

"Y-you said the grey one—"

"You think I am lying?" He angrily bellows and grabs mother by the neck, firing shock right through Minho. 

“Father!” Hurriedly, Minho descends the stairs. “Father, stop! Please!” He attempts to get his father’s hands away from his mother’s neck. “Father!” At that instant, Minho’s father releases the grasp he had on mother and swings his fist at Minho’s left eye. Minho steps back in shock, his palm pressed against his harmed eye—the pain there is blaring. But what hurts more than his eye are his feelings because never in his life had he ever got hit by his father.

Fear-stricken, Minho's mother stares at him. She parts her lips and then closes it. Minho tries to keep up his walls, not wanting to break down right before their eyes. 

Minho's father takes a step forward. "Minho." Guilt colors his voice, doing nothing else but cracking Minho's walls. Once the tears flee from Minho's eyes, he makes a run for it. He can't be here at this chaotic house right now. 

He arrives at the bus stop, sits down, and looks down at his thighs. The tears escape his eyes and land on the fabric of his black slacks. He wishes his father could wake up and focus on his words, actions and emotions. Like a volcano, he ruptures at any random time, bringing fear into Minho and Minho’s mother's lives.

The bus comes to a halt. Minho cleans the tears off his face, gets on the bus, and greets the driver with a good morning. He walks through the aisle and finds Hyunjin there in the middle section beaming with happiness. He sports on a black beanie—there is no other reason for him to do that other than hide his blonde hair. 

“Good morning.” Minho offers him a small smile and sits down next to him. He is happy that Hyunjin decided to show up today. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah!” Hyunjin replies, “It’s worthless to cry over someone who can not see the charms I offer. She lost her chance of having a perfect boyfriend like me. I don’t care about her anymore, it comes time to hunt for someone else." 

There are plenty of students that swoon over Hyunjin, they have their hearts open, ready to welcome Hyunjin into them. It should be easy for Hyunjin to choose someone that would like him back, but his pickiness comes in front of him. It isn't bad for him to be picky with selecting someone to love because some others out there are relatively malevolent. It's best to—

All of a sudden, Hyunjin swipes the pad of his warm thumb against Minho's left injured eye. "What happened here?" At this instant, Minho tries to formulate an excuse. This injury should take no regard from others; he can't set out the truth. 

"I fell down the stairs." Hyunjin's eyes flicker with irritation. Minho's answer was lame and right on unbelievable. 

“I do not accept your answer. How does falling down the stairs leave you with that bruised eye? Someone hit you there, and I know who this someone is, it can’t be anyone else but Jisung. It’s been clear that he has something against you."

“But—”

"Do not lie. Yesterday night, Seungmin texted me what happened. He told me that you went up to Jisung during lunch, and he yelled at you. Being a soft person, you must have been so overwhelmed." Hyunjin huffs. "I regret leaving school early over my heartbreak." 

"Jisung didn't hit me," Minho says, "I fell down the stairs." 

“Not that answer again.” Hyunjin huffs again, turns his body, and looks out the window. Softly, Minho lets out a breath, and he absentmindedly looks at the front. Hyunjin is mad at him. He doesn't want to be ignored by him. 

The student's words from yesterday began to shine in his mind. The doubt overtakes him and shatters his self-assurance. The tears invade Minho's eyes and spill out. He turns his face away from Hyunjin’s view—even when Hyunjin isn’t going to see him right now since his attention is out the window—and he wipes his tears away. 

Hyunjin exhales softly and relaxes his head on Minho’s shoulder, making Minho somewhat surprised. Hyunjin seemingly caught him crying. “I’m sorry. I was angry and worried, but that doesn’t give me the right to push you for answers. I will not ask you anymore.” Hyunjin lifts his head and looks directly at Minho. “Just know that I am always here for you when you need to talk to me about something or need my help.” 

Favoring Hyunjin’s thoughtfulness, Minho offers him a small smile. “Thank you.” 

The bus comes to a stop at the front of their prestigious school. Hyunjin and Minho get off and approach the open gates where the hall monitor stands, monitoring the students like a hawk. Mr.Choi's eyes stop at Hyunjin, and then his orbs crawl up to his beanie. Intense suspicion awakens in his gaze.

"Good morning, Mr.Choi," Minho greets him. 

Mr.Choi looks at Minho and chuckles. "Good morning, Minho." His eyes stuck to Minho's for an extra few seconds before they plant back on Hyunjin, who at the moment appears apprehensive. "I really like your hat." Minho places his hand against his mouth to stifle in his laugh. 

"Oh! Thank you! I can buy you—" Mr.Choi takes off Hyunjin's beanie—his blonde hair he kept hidden in the black beanie falls in place, his hair is a bit messy—and throws the beanie at him, which Hyunjin rapidly captures. "What was that for? It's expensive!"

"Speak with respect," Mr.Choi scolds. He starts writing something on his clipboard. "You will serve detention after school today for not following my orders."

Hyunjin whines, “ _But Mr.Choi!_ _I can’t serve detention!_ ”

“You want your record to stay clean?” Mr.Choi raises his brows. Hyunjin eagerly nods. “If only you dyed your hair to a natural color, you would not be facing the consequences. You can clean the bathrooms alone if you don't want detention." 

“Ew! No!” Hyunjin pulls on a scowl. “I’d rather have detention.”

Mr.Choi sighs. “Detention it is.” He looks at Minho with a smile playing on his lips. “You should be more like your senior friend, Minho. He is such a model student, following the rules without any complaints.” The hall monitor looks back at Hyunjin, his smile falling. Hyunjin puts his beanie back on—this time, he does not hide his hair within it. “If you do not dye your hair to a natural color, you will get expelled from this school.”

“Okay! I will dye my hair back to a natural color!” Hyunjin cries and storms away. Minho trails after him quickly. Hyunjin lowers his speed and swirls around, allowing Minho to catch up. “I can’t believe I have to stay for detention.”

“I can stay with you,” Minho offers. The longer he is away from home, the better. He wishes he could be away for a long, long time, but it’s impossible. 

“Are you sure?” 

Minho smiles. “Yes.”

“Ah! I love you so much!” Hyunjin hugs Minho and lets him go. “See you during lunch.” 

  
  


───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

  
  


“On your graphing calculators, enter in the data set and—” The door sliding cuts Mr.Park off, and he sighs with irritation. He never likes his lessons being interrupted. 

“Good morning, sorry for interrupting your class. I wanted to ask you if I can take Lee Minho out of class? The principal wants to see him.” Minho’s heart races, his nerves spiking. Is he in deep trouble? He doesn't think he has done anything wrong. If there is anything he did wrong, it has to be related to what happened yesterday during lunch. He was involved in a way.

"Yes," Mr.Park replies and sets his eyes on Minho. Minho takes this as the cue to stand up and go over to Mr.Choi. 

" _ Ooh _ , Minho is in trouble," Juyeon's voice resounds. 

"No comments!" Mr.Park barks, "now back with the lesson..." 

Minho leaves his class with Mr.Choi, trailing behind him with fear and agony. They continue through the corridor, and when they reach the stairwell, the hallway monitor turns to him, giving him a small smile of assurance. “Don’t worry, Minho, you are not in trouble.” His words help ease Minho’s nerves. 

They arrive at the principles office. The principal eyes land specifically on Minho’s left eye, and he gestures for Minho to sit down. Mr.Choi leaves the office, leaving Minho with only the principal. The feelings of nervousness return to him rather quickly.

“Earlier, Mr.Choi had noticed the injury on your eye and expressed his concerns about it to me. I can see how badly affected the area around your eye is. Mr.Choi further included that yesterday you were being bullied by Han Jisung and supposed that Jisung was the one to have attacked you. Did he do that to you?" 

Jisung is unfairly getting dragged into messes, messes that aren't even entirely his fault. He gets blamed for the wrong things. No one ever hands him peace, it's always violence he has to tumble beneath. 

Minho shakes his head. "Jisung isn't bullying me. We just didn't agree on something, and we had a small argument over it. And... he didn't hit me in the eye. I fell down the stairs."

With brows drawn together, Principal Jung inspects Minho's eyes—his eyes glinting with utter disbelief. "You can be honest with me, Lee."

"I am being honest, Jisung has no fault in this."

Principal Jung exhales. “Okay, I believe you. You may report back to your class.”

Minho stands up and bows. He leaves the principal’s office and heads back for his class. When he enters, most students set their gazes on Minho, making his throat constrict and making his heart speed up. 

“Welcome back, Lee Minho,” Mr.Park says, “I will catch you up after teaching this lesson.” Minho nods. He walks to his desk, located in the second row, and he places himself down. 

  
  


───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Lunch comes by, Minho heads out of class, hurries down the stairs until he arrives at the floor where the junior students' classes are all at. There are still students coming out of their classes. Several regard Minho with a smile, a few look at him and get flustered—causing him to be flustered as well—and others just brush past. 

"Minho?" Seungmin approaches in front of him, curiosity at his eyes. "Are you waiting for someone?"

Minho nods. "I need to give someone something."

"Ohh," replies Seungmin. He flashes Minho a miniature smile. "See you at the cafeteria." He waves his goodbye and walks away.

When the classrooms seem to have emptied of all students, Minho heads inside class 2-2—the class Jisung shares with Hyunjin, Ryujin, and Jongho. This class isn't completely emptied out; two girls are drawing things on the whiteboard while talking to each other, and there is one boy seated at a desk busy with his phone. 

"Hi, Minho," the girl with shoulder-length hair greets. 

"Hi," Minho replies with a smile. Then he turns his attention to the desks; he has to find Jisung's desk quickly and put the letter there for him to read. He could find the correct desk by seeing which desk has the worn-out Jansport backpack.

He strolls through the desks and right away finds that particular worn-out grey backpack laying on the floor at the leg of a desk—Minho drags his gaze upwards—and right next to that desk is that boy. He approaches the desk and stares at it. Could it be Jisung's desk? Should he ask the classmate? On his phone screen, Minho notices that he is playing some sort of RPG game. He doesn't want to bother him and make him lose the game. Maybe it would be better just to give—

Minho notices the boy take out one of his earbuds and look up at him, his expression stony, he looks intimidating. "Can I help you?" His deep voice brings goosebumps against Minho's skin.

“Is this…” Minho looks at the desk before setting his eyes back on the boy, who also has freckles decorating his face. Not only does he look intimidating, but he also looks quite handsome. "Jisung's desk?"

“Yeah, it is,” he responds.

Minho doesn’t know what else to say, so he slips out the folded paper from his blazer breast pocket. Where should he put it? Inside the desk or on top of the desk?

“I think you should put the note inside his desk, it would be safe there,” the latter says—as if he read Minho's thoughts— and puts his earbud back in his ear. Minho slips the paper inside the desk, looks at Jisung’s desk one last time then leaves the class.

He arrives at the ‘vip’ table and sits at the empty chair across from Hyunjin. Hyunjin smiles at him. “You took so long.” 

“I had to do something.” 

Hyunijn turns around in his seat to look at all the tables behind him and turns back forward. “Isn't it sad that the skunk chose not to show up here at the cafeteria today?" Minho peers at the tables in search of Jisung. Is he choosing not to eat here today? Minho understands him. The students are so terrible to him, he must’ve grown tired of the whispers and stares and needed to be away from everyone. 

“He is scared,” Changbin declares, “but wasn’t scared to throw a tantrum on Minho.”

“Minho just wanted to be his friend,” Jongho says, “you should not even bother with that skunk. Not to be rude or anything, what do you even see in him?” 

“I… I… think Jisung… he…” 

Seungmin cuts in, “Don’t you guys know? Or is it only me that pays attention to him enough? Minho is nice to everyone.” 

“I do pay attention to Minho a lot!” Hyunjin whines, “I am the closest to him! We love each other, don’t we, Minho?” Minho offers him the lightest laugh. 

“The quieter people are always in their own special little world,” Sunwoo says, gets up from his spot, making them all confused until he nears Minho and places his hands on Minho’s shoulder. Minho’s lips rise into a smile. “Minho, what is going on in your little world? I am completely interested.”

“You are too much,” Ryujin mutters, “oh and Minho, what happened—” she cuts herself off. Confused, Minho looks at her and sees that she is looking right at Hyunjin. Minho looks at Hyunjin, who has a sharpness to his gaze. 

“Hyunjin, what was that about?” Changbin questions. Sunwoo drops his hands from Minho's shoulder and strolls back to his seat. 

Ryujin swiftly changes the topic. “Hey, isn’t the transfer student in our class handsome?” 

Hyunjin places his hand over his heart dramatically. “He is more handsome than me.”

“Too bad the transfer student has the one and the only desk, right next to Han Jiskunk,” Jongho says, “poor Felix is going to suffer through the stinkiness for the remainder of the year.” That boy that was playing that RPG game on his phone is a transfer student?

“I mean, Felix wouldn’t suffer anymore if we get Jisung kicked out of this school right away,” Ryujin says. 

“Why bother?” Seungmin utters. Everyone at this table looks at him. Minho feels very surprised by his words. 

“ _ Kim Seungmin? _ ” Hyunjin gasps. “What happened to you?” 

“It’s the Minho-effect,” Sunwoo cackles. 

“It is not called the  _ Minho-effect _ , it is called having  _ my own opinions _ , and my opinions are reasonable,” Seungmin states and props his chin with his hand.

“ _ In my opinion, _ Jisung does not belong here,” Changbin says and asks, “how did he last this long at this expensive school if he is this poor?”

Sunwoo gasps. “ _ Plot twist _ . What if he isn’t  _ actually _ poor, what if he is pretending?" 

Jisung wouldn't pretend to be poor. Minho saw enough of him already—the stealing at the convenience store which Minji had claimed he had done often. The lack of hygiene and worn-out backpack. Whatever he is experiencing is his cruel reality. 

“Someone’s coming,” Ryujin claims, “with what looks like a love letter.”

All of them, including Minho, follow Ryujin's line of vision and see a girl approaching them with a shy smile on her lips. She stops at Minho. "This is for you." She hands Minho a slip of paper and hurries away. 

“Oh—my—god.” Hyunjin overdramatically gasps. “I am happy for you!”

Minho blushes and opens the folded piece of paper. 

_ Hey, Minho. Thank you for the letter, let’s meet up on the rooftop. _

_ -Jisung ♡ _

Minho blushes even harder at the heart at the end of Jisung’s name. Minho felt that he made a huge achievement and feels very proud of himself. He can finally be friends with him, and within some time after getting to know each other, they can expand their relationship and become more than just friends.

“His ears are so red,” Jongho declares, “who gave you the letter?”

Minho does not want to tell any of them because their reactions may not be the—

“Jisung,” Ryujin says unhappily. She—who is right next to Minho—managed to see the name.

“Minho, is that true?” Hyunjin asks. Minho gazes at him—he does not look so happy—and offers him a quick nod. Hyunjin releases a breath. “Show me?” Minho gives him the slip of paper, letting him read over it. Hyunjin returns it to him. “Yesterday, you guys told me that Jisung yelled at Minho. What makes Jisung suddenly change his mind like this? And meeting Minho at the rooftop sounds suspicious to me, he might—”

The cafeteria falls silent, Hyunjin’s eyes light up, and he turns around. Minho looks straight ahead in hopefulness. His hopefulness dies when he does not see Jisung—it's actually that transfer student, and he seems like he is looking for someone. 

Hyunjin turns back forward. “I thought I had the chance to question Jisung and beat him up for treating Minho like trash.” 

Minho stands up. “I will go now.”

“To the rooftop?” Hyunjin asks. Minho nods. “No, don’t go over there, leave him there. I have a bad feeling about this.” Minho doesn’t really absorb Hyunjin’s words. Minho believes that Hyunjin is only trying to hold him back because he doesn’t have much of a fondness for Jisung—he holds complete distaste over Jisung. Minho won't let Hyunjin stop him, he must go to the rooftop and talk to Jisung. 

“I will come back later,” Minho says. Or maybe not, depending on how long the conversation would be. He takes out his phone and looks at the displayed time—there isn’t much time for lunch left.

Minho goes up the stairs and finally reaches the highest floor. At the end of the corridor is the door that leads to the rooftop. He hadn’t been to the rooftop in a while, the last time he did was relatively long ago when he was a freshman. 

He steps onto the rooftop area, it’s slightly cold outside, the breeze gently brushes against his face. He looks around and does not find Jisung here. Was it a prank? He cuts the assumptions, it is far too early to assume things. He will have to wait. 

Minho ambles over to the ledge that has a tall chain-link fence on it for safety. He curls the fingers of his right hand into the openings and gazes at the blue sky. It is quite peaceful up here, the silence is soothing, contrasting to the environment in the cafeteria, where it was loud and stuffy. 

The sound of the door alerts him, and the slam startles him. He turns around and finds Jisung in front of the door, his eyes on fire, his lips set to a straight line.

“Jisung, is—”

“Don’t play stupid.” Jisung takes a couple of steps forward to Minho. “You really are something. That letter… all I have to say is that you are fucked in the mind. You and your god damn friends always deride me, when will you ever let me be? If you are this disgusted in me, then do not be near me! Forget that I even exist!"

His words are an impact, yet confusing. Minho had written a letter expressing his feelings, expressing that he wants to be friends with him. Had Jisung thought of the letter in a different way? Had he thought of them as lies? 

“Jisung the letter I wrote… did it offend you?… I’m sorry… I wanted to be your friend.”

“Not this again. How are you acting innocent in this? You truly are shameless and diabolical. Fuck off.” Jisung sticks out his middle finger. It shocks and hurts Minho, and water immediately settles in his eyes and sears down his cheeks. “Take that as a sign to never bother me.” He heads back inside. 

Minho sobs. Maybe it is time to drop his hopes. It was a huge mistake writing a letter for him. Jisung is not ever going to want to be friends with Minho. He is concise with his hatred. 

The door to the rooftop opens. “I guess I am too late.” Minho lifts his head at the familiar deep voice and wipes his tears away. What is the transfer student here for? 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading~! (＾• ω •＾)
> 
> I won't take too long on the next chapter... I hope... *glares at my classes* 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you have the greatest day or night!! Baibai!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heya! I'm back with the next chapter. I said I would update the previous week but didn't end up keeping my words because I decided that I should expand the last part of this chapter. At least this time I updated faster (=^ ◡ ^=) I hope you enjoy reading this chapter~~!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw// violence, physical harm

"Don't cry..." Felix drags his gaze down to look at Minho's nametag, and then he pulls them back up to meet with his eyes again. "Lee Minho. Nice name, by the way! Suits you."

A smile expands on Felix's lips, fading some of Minho's sadness and switching it with a feeling of comfort. His smile is enough to dwindle Minho's original view of Felix being an intimidating person. He isn't much intimidating at all, he is relatively amicable. 

"Thank you," Minho replies, presenting his own smile to Felix. 

" _ Hey! _ You're smiling!" Felix cheers. Minho laughs softly, warmth settling on his cheeks. "Okay, back to the serious topic. As I said, don't cry— not that I have to worry too much about that anymore because now you appear to be much happier. Everything will be okay. I got you!" 

Felix's declaration weakens Minho's smile, and he could see Felix's exuberant expression diminish too. If Felix is trying to be a great comfort, then that is fine, it's nice of him to come here and say encouraging words. But encouragement and comfort aren't at all going to undo the damage Jisung struck in him. The damage is plentiful—the words, the actions, they worked well to have Minho plummet. 

The letter he had written with so much time and effort is apparently not satisfactory, and this is upsetting for Minho. He is confused and hurt and questions what offended Jisung.

"Did I say something wrong?" Felix asks. Grave worry sits in his face, and his eyes lose their brightness they had on moments ago.

"No," Minho replies, his voice turning out quieter than intended.

"Ah... that's great to hear..." Felix eyes move to the left, he sucks his bottom lip into his mouth. Minho feels heavy awkwardness—the awkwardness he invited himself—it's strangling him, and he wants it away.

"Isn't this school nice?" Felix swaps the topic, his eyes right back on Minho. Minho sees the exuberance takes its place back on the transfer student's face. "I think it's reasonably expensive. The exteriors... the interiors, the  _ bathroom _ ... they are all nice and have great quality, but the only thing that isn't nice is most students— or to be more specific, the students in my class. They are so judgemental. I mean... they haven't said or done anything to me— it could be that way because I just transferred here today." Felix pouts a little. "Everyone is so mean to Jisung." 

He fits right in, that's why he isn't being judged by anyone. He seems to be rich, or he could at least be middle class. The advantages he obtains are the advantages Jisung doesn't have. 

"Yeah." Is the only word Minho uses as a reply.

Which leads Felix to speak more. "At least you aren't mean, I can see that. And I claim myself as not mean either. I don't appreciate how the students are this way to Jisung over his smell. I don't mind his smell, so why must the others?" 

Minho gives him a small smile because he is grateful for how Felix shows genuine concern for Jisung and doesn't judge him immorally like how the students do. Felix is an understanding person and respectful. If the others could be like him, then Jisung's days at this school wouldn't be so strenuous and pain-attracting.

Felix continues to speak, "In my class, there is this one student, she has short hair and wears a striped Burberry backpack." It’s most likely Ryujin. "Uhh, this took place during a short recess during class. She gave Jisung this mean-looking gaze, and then she told me that she felt bad for me because I have to sit next to a stinky person."

Felix puts on a pout again after his explanation, and Minho sighs. That is relatively harsh of her to say—it must have hurt Jisung's feelings thoroughly. 

Again, Felix continues to speak. "I do not need any of her pity. Jisung and I barely talk to each other— well, I mean unless I need help with stuff because I know he is smart. What was I trying to say again... uh... hm..." 

Felix taps his chin, lost in his thoughts, attempting to recall what he wanted to say. 

" _ Oh! _ Okay, I remember now.  _ So _ , even if Jisung and I barely speak to each other, I still like him a lot. His smell, even if it is strong, it doesn't change him or make him less important or deserving of malicious treatment. Jisung is Jisung, no matter what takes place in his life."

Felix's words touch Minho in the heart. He  _ has _ to express his appreciation, so finally, he decides to speak, "I am happy that there is someone nice and accepting as you." Minho adds in a smile.

Felix giggles and gives Minho finger guns. 

"You seem to like Jisung a lot— oh no! We are getting out of topic," Felix suddenly cries, making Minho a bit surprised and confused. "The reason why I came here is to inform you and Jisung of what happened. But he left, so I guess I will tell you first. What happened was, after you left the classroom after putting that paper inside his desk, I left the class too because I needed to use the bathroom. Did I tell you about how much I like the bath—"

The bell sounds, and out of agitation, Felix groans. "I hate you, lunch bell!"

Minho laughs. He understands how Felix feels. He wants to hear what happened. 

"Why must lunch end so fast." Felix brings out his phone and smiles at Minho, flashing his perfect teeth. "I like you a lot. Give me your number so we can talk some more, sweet friend."

Minho takes out his phone, and they exchange numbers. Felix smiles proudly. 

"Time to get to class. Bye Minho." 

  
  


───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

  
  


Class ends, Minho places all of his belongings inside his backpack and zips it close. He walks after the students to head out of the classroom. On the wall opposite of himself, he finds Hyunjin standing, waiting with a smile spread on his lips. 

Together they walk towards the staircase and descend the steps.

"Do tell me how your trip to the rooftop went." 

"It was okay," lies Minho. He didn't want to provide Hyunjin with the details. 

Hyunjin huffs and peers at Minho, his eyes reflecting annoyance. "Jisung is your boyfriend now?" 

Hyunjin's question enforces heat against Minho's cheeks and ears. Rapidly, Minho denies the words. "No... it's not like that." 

"That is  _ very  _ good to hear." Hyunjin smiles and looks to the front. "You wouldn't want to be contaminated by the disgusting piece of skunk shit." 

Minho feels a powerful throb in his chest, inflicted by Hyunjin's blatantly unkind words. He wishes he could stop this cruelness, but this wish will remain a wish because he doesn't have the inner strength to step up and speak up. Doing what is right is far from Minho's hands.

Their feet land on the second floor, and Hyunjin leads Minho towards class 2-4, the class Hyunjin is supposed to serve detention in. They step inside, and when Minho turns his head to the left, he sees Jisung seated at the front. He has a frown on his face as he works on his homework. Unfairly, he is here for detention, and this thought hurts Minho. Jisung doesn't deserve this treatment.

"Welcome," the teacher greets monotonously. When her eyes fix on Minho, a look of confusion settles on her face. She draws her brows together, then drops her eyes to the paper on the desk. "On this list are only two students. Hwang Hyunjin, in trouble for not having natural colored hair. And for not dying his hair when asked to do so multiple times. And Han Jisung, for bullying a student."

Minho sets his eyes to the floor, sadness conquering him. Jisung did not bully him, he was wrongly accused. 

"Lee Minho, what brings you here?" 

Minho looks at the teacher. "Ah... I'm here... for..."

Hyunjin slings his arm around Minho's shoulder. "He will be accompanying me here. Is that a problem?" 

The teacher sighs, her eyes narrowed at Hyunjin. "Pick whatever seat." Hyunjin nods and trails all the way to the back, his arm remaining where it is—occupying Minho's shoulder. He only let's go once he finds a spot he is satisfied with and sits down. Minho places himself at the desk next to Hyunjin's. "I have to run some errands. Please behave." 

"There is no need to worry. We will behave. I don't know about Han there, though, since he has to be here because of  _ bullying _ ," Hyunjin declares in a cocky-sounding way, "if only he didn't be a bully, he wouldn't be here."

The teacher gives Hyunjin a glare. "Say anything more, I will make sure you end up here for tomorrow, Hwang." 

Minho watches the teacher leave the classroom. When the teacher is entirely out of his view, he gazes at Hyunjin, who has his eyes set on Jisung, with his lips shaped into a little smirk. This isn't sitting with Minho right, what could Hyunjin be planning in his mind? 

"Detention is about to get spicy," Hyunjin blurts out. Minho looks forward to where Jisung is to see how he reacted. He is still focused on his assignments. Minho hopes Hyunjin doesn't do anything to hurt Jisung or inflict anger inside of him. 

Hyunjin brings his lips close to Minho's ears—his warm breath tickling his ears—and he whispers, "I am pretty happy that the stink ended up here. Time to play with that animal."

Animal? Hyunjin's words are sickening. Minho doesn't feel so good anymore. Jisung is no animal. That was a horrible thing for Hyunjin to say about him. This negative view Minho now has on Hyunjin isn't a view Minho wants to maintain. Hyunjin is a good friend—treating Minho well, making him comfortable, and taking care of him—but he isn't a good person. He and the others as well are bringing Jisung down. 

Minho feels like he is starting to like Hyunjin a lot less now. This is a strong feeling, and it is only growing stronger. He is getting closer to the line—the line of ending his friendship with Hyunjin. 

"Hey, Han Jiskunk, what are you doing there?" Hyunjin asks, his voice full of venom. 

Jisung ignores him and continues doing his work which starts making Hyunjin angrier. Can't Hyunjin just take Jisung's silence as a sign to leave him alone? 

"I was talking to you."

"Hyunjin, please stop bothering—" 

Hyunjin stands up abruptly, forcing Minho to end his sentence—it is too late. Hyunjin starts making his way over, and in caution, Minho stands from his seat. He looks over to the right side, where the door is and the windows—hoping that no teachers or students are lingering in the corridor. Hyunjin and Jisung shouldn't end up in a fight and get in trouble, they will risk another detention or worse, suspension or even expulsion. 

Hyunjin slaps his hands onto the flat surface of Jisung's desk. "You annoy me so much, little skunk. Now that you and I are here, without any supervision, how about we fight? I have my anger for you saved up."

Jisung stands up. "Bring it on." And this is when Minho chooses to rush over to them. He, however, steps back right in time when Hyunjin flips Jisung to the ground. 

"Hyunjin, please don't do this." 

Minho gets ignored. Hyunjin reaches for Jisung's collar and lifts him from the ground. "You were the one to punch him in the eye, weren't you?" 

Jisung turns his head to Minho, peers specifically at his left eye, and looks back at Hyunjin. "No. I wouldn't go as far as that." 

Hyunjin swings his fist at Jisung's face. "But you did yell at him during lunch and humiliated him in front of everyone!"

Jisung spat, "You are damn funny and hypocritical. You are doing the exact same fucking thing to me! You and your friends, except Minho. You care about him, trying to protect him and all, but you are such a hypocrite." He swings his fist at Hyunjin's cheek. 

"Please stop fighting," Minho begs. 

"You guys keep shitting on me, and I am tired of it. I have felt enough humiliation and pain," Jisung says, his voice failing. Anguished and concerned, Minho looks at Jisung to read his expression.  _ Pain _ —there is deep pain. 

Hyunjin replies, infuriation layering his voice, "I am not a hypocrite, fuckface. I am reasonable. Minho is my friend, and I care about him, he is worthy of the respect he gets from me and the others. You are a different story, you stink, you have no home, and you aren't respecting Minho. You earn the humiliation you are feeling. You are walking on thin ice Jisung. Let's see how long you can last."

"It's not  _ let's _ .  _ You _ watch me last on this ice. I  _ will  _ pull through." Jisung's eyes are dark and serious. Hyunjin is now timid.

Minho smiles at Jisung even though Jisung doesn't see it because he and Hyunjin are maintaining soundless gazes against each other—Hyunjin's eyes dull. 

Hyunjin manages to compose himself. "You will not pull through, Jisung, and I will make sure of that." He steps back and scoffs, "Now I have to wash my hands because I touched a worthless slob." Minho shuts his eyes, sighs very softly, and opens his eyes to see Hyunjin hurrying out of this classroom. 

Now that it's only Minho and Jisung in this class, the awkwardness is seeping in. What should he say? What should he do? Minho lays his gaze onto Jisung. "Ji—" 

Jisung raises his hand, silencing Minho right away. Wordlessly, he sits down, grabs his pen, and quietly returns to his work. Minho lingers there awkwardly for another second before he chooses to return to his seat. 

Because he doesn't know what to do, he decides to distract himself from his emotions by starting on his homework. 

"I see you are behaving well. Great job." Minho raises his head to see the teacher back. She lingers by the door, her eyes going from Jisung to Minho and then to the desk next to Minho, empty of Hyunjin. Enough time passed by, and he hadn't yet returned. "Oh, no wonder why... where did Hyunjin head off to?"

"He went to the bathroom," answers Minho. 

"Okay. I will be back in a few minutes." The teacher leaves the classroom again, and Minho drops his eyes back onto his work. His focus, however, is quickly interrupted when he hears some sort of shuffling sound. Out of sheer curiosity, Minho raises his head a bit and finds Jisung approaching him. 

"Academically, I excel, but when it comes to truly understanding people, I fail." Jisung sits down at the desk in front of Minho, his body facing Minho's direction. "I apologize for being foul to you and not understanding your true intentions." 

The apology has Minho's eyes wide in surprise. It's not something he expected. "I—ah, it's okay." He offers Jisung the warmest smile he could give because happiness glows in him. 

Jisung doesn't mirror the smile. Minho wishes to see his smile—a smile would look so great on his lips—but Jisung probably doesn't feel like giving one. He is going through way too much and is fighting his battles. 

"In class, Felix told me what happened. He said something about going to the bathroom, and then when he was walking through the corridor back to class, he heard the two girls talk about you. They talked about how funny it was to replace your note, and they couldn't wait for us to quarrel at the rooftop and destroy our relationship. Not that we even had one. Students are incorrectly wording things." 

Minho remembers the paper a girl gave him during lunch and pulls it out of his blazer pocket. He looks at it before handing it over to Jisung. The junior reads it and rips the paper apart into several pieces out of fury. 

Jisung continues to speak,—Minho notices something in his peripheral vision and shifts his eyes to the door—"I was rude to you for no reason—" then he stops speaking and looks over his left shoulder. It's Hyunjin stepping inside the classroom, carrying snacks in his arms. 

With quick steps, Hyunjin approaches them, anger fogging up in his eyes. "What are you doing here? What are you saying to him?" Hyunjin asks. 

Jisung lifts himself from the seat. "It is none of your business." And then he heads back to his desk. 

Hyunjin sits down next to Minho and sets the snacks onto his desk. He brought a lot. 

"Did he do anything to you?" He asks, and Minho shakes his head. Hyunjin narrows his eyes in a little suspicion, then quickly neutralizes his expression and changes the topic. "After going to the bathroom to wash of Jisung's disgustingness, I got some snacks at the student snack shop because I was hungry, I thought you would be too, so I got you some snacks too."

"Thank you... but I'm not hungry," Minho replies. 

"Are you sure?" Hyunjin asks, then sighs when Minho shakes his head. Should he speak up and tell Hyunjin to stop being mean to Jisung? Jisung needs to be torn away from the pain, it isn't something he should merit. How could Minho help with it? He doesn't have the courage to stop him or let alone speak up about it. 

"Are you mad at me?" Minho turns his head to Hyunjin and finds him pouting with sadness. Minho shakes his head, even though he kind of is. He is upset with his behavior and words, he doesn't want Hyunjin to be this way to Jisung.

Hyunjin drills his eyes on Minho's, trying to hunt for answers. He is quick to give up, therefore he chooses to ask, "If you are not mad at me, then why are you this way to me? Please don't just shake or nod your head. Give me words, a lot of words." 

Minho, like always, replies with something that opposes his thoughts. "I am not mad at you." 

"That is not a lot of words." Hyunjin opens a small gummy bear package, plucks out a red one, and nears it to Minho's lips. Minho opens his mouth and lets Hyunjin feed him the gummy. "I think you are lying to me. You seem like you are mad at me." 

"I am not. I am tired," Minho says. He folds his arms on the desk and rests his head against his arms—turning his face to Hyunjin's direction. Hyunjin stares at him and smiles when Minho offers him a small smile. 

  
  


Eventually, detention is over, and Minho and Hyunjin leave the classroom right away. Amid the way over to the stairway, Minho quickly looks behind himself and sees Jisung several steps behind. Jisung notices Minho looking and meets with his eyes. Minho's cheeks warm up, and he sends him a smile before turning his head forward.

When out of the school building, Minho spots Mr.Choi walking. The hall monitor stops in his steps and looks at Hyunjin. "Enjoyed detention, Hwang?" Minho tries his best not to laugh at his questioning. 

Hyunjin slings an arm over Minho's shoulder. "Why, thank you for asking. I did enjoy it." 

Mr.Choi shakes his head as he laughs. "Make sure to dye your hair."

"Mr.Choi about that," Hyunjin replies, "can I dye my hair on the weekend? I will show up to school next week with natural-colored hair." 

"Keep your words," Mr.Choi replies and brushes past them to head inside the building. 

"Like I even have a choice," Hyunjin utters, "what natural color should I get? Black or brown?"

"I think black would look nice on you." 

"Soft black, raven, jet black?"

Minho smiles. "Anything you like." 

"I think I will go with jet black." Hyunjin strolls his fingers through his blonde strands. "I only spent a week with my blonde, I'm going to miss it so much, but I have to do what I am required to do. This sucks, but getting expelled would suck so much more. My parents are already mad at me for having detention. My butler shouldn't have told them anything." 

Something catches Minho's attention. It's Jisung, and he is heading over to the front field. He sees him climb onto the bleachers and sit in the highest row. 

Hyunjin and Minho reach the gates, and Hyunjin lets out a sigh when he sees his butler—who he loathes—waiting in front of his nice black car. "Well, my butler is here right on time. Minho, would you like a ride home?"

Minho thinks about it right at the moment, then his thoughts trail to Jisung. He wants to stay here for a bit and talk to him a little more, so he shakes his head as an answer to Hyunjin's question. 

Hyunjin gives him a pout. "Alright. See you tomorrow morning." Minho watches as Hyunjin heads over to the car. The butler opens the door to the back seat. "I have hands. I can do it myself," Hyunjin spat at him and gets inside. He looks out the window at Minho, smiles at him, and then looks forward. 

He is always quite rude to his butler. It's because Hyunjin doesn't classify his butler great enough, and Minho could understand. The butler keeps Hyunjin's parents up to date on Hyunjin’s bad grades, whether he is eating or sleeping well or not, and how he acts in general. This is torture to Hyunjin, and Minho feels pitiful for him.

When the car is out of sight, Minho rushes to the field and approaches the bleacher Jisung is seated in. Minho climbs up and places himself down next to Jisung. 

"You're staying here longer?" Jisung asks.

Minho shyly nods. "I want to talk to you some more."

"Ah." 

Genuinely curious about the foul letter, Minho chooses to ask, "What was written on the letter that wasn't the one I gave you?" 

"I wish I still had it with me." Jisung removes the gaze he had on Minho and settles his eyes downwards at his slim legs. "It was something along the lines of calling me unhygienic, a burden to the entire school..." he huffs, remains quiet for the next few seconds, then continues—the following words have Minho shocked and deeply hurt. "And that I should die."

Why must they take things this far? Pushing Jisung—someone who already has a lot going on in his life—to the dark, leaving him there to drown in his sea of agony,  _ wanting _ him to drown, not caring if he drowns because he isn't like the others at this school who have their privileges.

"Minho?"

"Yes?" Tears spill down Minho's cheeks.

"What— why are you crying?" 

Minho wipes away his tears. "I feel sad."

Jisung is now looking right at him. "You feel sad for... me?" Minho answers his question with a nod. Jisung breathes in heavily and changes the topic. "Tell me what you wrote on the letter." 

"I think you are a great person...and hope to be your friend?"

Jisung laughs. He made him  _ laugh _ . It's a laugh that sparks happiness inside of Minho. His laugh is beautiful, the pleasant sound enchants Minho and makes him feel lucky. This is the best thing ever. Even Jisung's eyes are shining with happiness. "You think I am a great person?" When Minho gives him a humble nod as an answer, Jisung's lips quirk upwards into a smile that is just as beautiful as his laugh. This is such a risk to Minho's heart, it feels like it is about to explode.

Minho presses the tip of his pointer finger onto Jisung's cheek. "You smiled."

Jisung huffs a laugh. "You made me smile." 

Minho retracts his hand, feeling his cheeks burn. "Jisung, would you... would you like to be my friend?"

"I trust you now, so yes, let's be friends," Jisung answers with a smile that means everything to Minho. It's comforting to see him smile. Jisung looks forward. "Are your parents going to pick you up soon?" 

Minho hasn't contacted them yet, but he is definite that they called him so many times at this point. This is the time he should be home, but he currently inhabits himself at this school. It's not like he feels like going home, especially after what had happened this morning. He doesn't want to face his father. 

"I'll call them now." Minho takes out his phone and finds missed calls from both of his parents. He chooses to call his mother. 

"Mother—"

"Minho! Thank goodness you are okay! I was so worried about you. Where are you right now?" 

"I am at school."

"I'll be coming to pick you up." 

Minho ends the call with his mother and sighs as he slips his phone back into his pocket. The two stay silent until Minho decides to ask, "How come you don't take the bus?"

"I ran out of money in my transportation card." 

"I can put money—"

"Minho, please don't. I don't want you to do anything for me." Jisung gazes at Minho. "I am thankful that you are offering to help, but I do not need that from you. I don't want to feel indebted to you."

Minho purses his lips, puffs his cheeks, and then says, "Friends help each other no matter what." 

"How sweet of you to say." Jisung blushes and quickly turns his face from Minho's view, making Minho softly giggle. "I'll be fine. I don't need the bus to get to school. I stay at this school."

Minho's smile fades, those words upsetting him. "You... live at this school?" Jisung doesn't answer. Minho gets worried. He couldn't find what to say next, so he accepts the silence. 

Jisung finally fixes his eyes on Minho's—deep agony beams in Jisung's eyes, the one that punctures Minho's heart and empties it. 

"Your left eye causes me concern. May I ask who did that to you or how it happened?" 

Minho uses the same excuse. "I fell down the stairs."

"Ah, you fell down the stairs," Jisung replies, based on the tone of his voice, Minho assumes that Jisung isn't choosing to believe his words, "you should be more careful."

Minho nods. Jisung places his hand on the left side of Minho's face, taking Minho by surprise. By the touch, Minho's heart is threatened, it's running against his chest at a quicker pace, the touch is preventing him from breathing properly, it's making him warm all over. Just a touch, a  _ mere _ touch, why must his body act this way, why must he feel this inner conflict?

Jisung retracts his hand quickly and chooses to look straight ahead. "I'm sorry." 

Minho wants to say that it is fine and that he enjoyed it, but he chooses to keep these words inside himself to prevent Jisung from feeling awkward or weirded out. 

"Jisung, would you like to spend the night at my place?"

"Minho, I told you, I don't need any of your help," Jisung says, "I am fine with how I am right now. I've been dealing with this for days now."

"Jisung... just one night? You can freshen up as well."

Jisung sighs. "I do feel disgusting all over, and I don't want to smell like this anymore. I would like a shower, it will make me feel so much better. I'm fine with showering at your place or staying overnight as long as your parents will be okay with it. Will they?"

"I think so. I will ask my mother once she comes here to pick me up." 

"Okay, thank you." 

  
  
  


After some time, Minho notices his mother pull over in front of the school. Minho and Jisung together step down the bleachers and start heading over to the front gates. Minho's mother closes the car door and rushes over to him, and wraps her arms around Minho, tightly, desperately, sorrowfully—as if she hadn't seen him in a long time.

"I'm so happy that you are okay," she says. Minho's mother pulls away and cups Minho's face, she looks at his eye and gives him a pained look. She lets go of his face and fixes her eyes to Jisung. "Is this your friend?"

"Yes," Minho answers, "his name is Han Jisung." 

"Hello, it is nice to meet you," Jisung says as he bows. 

"Is it okay if he can come over and spend the night?" Minho asks, hoping his mother would say yes because he doesn't want Jisung to sleep here at this school. 

"Yes," Minho's mother replies. 

"Thank you for allowing me, I appreciate it," Jisung says.

"You are so polite," Minho's mother says, "come, let's get home before it gets too dark." 

  
  


───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

  
  


They get inside his house, and Minho swallows with nervousness when he sees his father approaching. He doesn't appear angry, so that is good, but he instead seems utterly worried. 

"I'm glad to see that you are okay," he says. Minho nods and slightly moves near his mother. Minho's father looks at Jisung and shifts his eyes back onto Minho. "And who is this you brought here?"

"He is my friend, his name is Han Jisung," Minho says softly, "he will be spending the night here. Is that okay?" 

"Yeah, that is okay," Minho's father replies. 

“I'll be preparing dinner. Jisung, make yourself at home," Minho's mother says, smiling assuringly at Jisung. 

"Thank you," Jisung says.

Minho leads Jisung to his bedroom, and Jisung first chooses to look around from where he stands, then ends his eyes on Minho. "Your room looks nice and comfortable." 

"Yeah... it is pretty comfortable," Minho replies, giving Jisung a slight laugh, "my room also has its own bathroom. You can take a shower in there." Minho hurries over to his closet—even when he didn't need to rush—and he gestures at his clothes. "You can pick anything." 

Jisung is quick to pick out clothes and head to the bathroom. When Minho hears the sound of the shower running, he slips off his blazer and places it on his bed neatly. He changes into different clothes and lays on his bed.

Soon, Jisung finishes taking a shower and exits the bathroom. Minho notices how baggy the clothes are on him, they do, however, look nice on him, even though it is plain-featured. 

"I feel so refreshed and less dirty," Jisung proclaims with a smile, "thank you for letting me shower here. I guess tomorrow no one will comment on the stinkiness anymore." 

"Yeah..." Minho smiles at him, Jisung smiles at him back. 

Right away, the suffocating silence enters, making Minho feel awkward. In the midst of this crisis, Minho starts thinking about what he should say or ask. 

"You are handsome," Jisung says. At that sudden comment, Minho blinks once, then twice. His ears and cheeks flare up with warmth. 

"Thank you..." Minho shyly looks down at his knees. "You... you are handsome too..." And just from saying that, his ears and cheeks get much hotter. 

Jisung softly laughs.

They are pulled from their soft and light conversation when a knock resounds against the door. Minho gets off his bed and opens the door. He smiles when he finds his mom on the other side, a small smile on her lips too. Her smile grows when she looks at Jisung, and then she looks at Minho again.

"Dinner is ready," she says.

Minho and Jisung follow after her and head into the dining room to start eating dinner. Jisung sits across from Minho's mother, and Minho sits across from his father. 

"Jisung, how is school going for you? Are you doing well in your classes?"

"Yeah, I am ranked first in my year," Jisung replies. 

"That is quite impressive," Minho's father claims, "where would you like to go to for university?" 

"I have not thought about it yet."

"You have a lot of time. Take your time, kid," Minho's father chuckles. 

  
  


They finish dinner. Minho leads Jisung back into his room and sits at the side of his bed. He looks up towards Jisung, who only stands across from Minho, staring down towards him. Minho smiles and, with assurance, pats the mattress. Jisung doesn't hesitate and sits next to him. 

They both stick to this silence until Jisung is finally the one to break it. "Thank you for bringing me here. Your parents are welcoming."

"Yeah... they are," Minho says, pushing out a fake smile.

All of a sudden, Jisung lays his hand on Minho's left cheek, stroking his thumb over his left eye with gentleness. The warm touch doesn't fail to ignite Minho all over and quickly wake his heart, having it beat frantically. To Minho, this touch laces him with these powerful feelings, but likely to Jisung, it might mean nothing. 

"I'm sorry this happened to you. I hope it can heal as fast as possible," Jisung utters. He moves his hand away, the warmth decides to take its leave as well. 

They decide to work on their remaining homework they have left. Minho glances over at Jisung's paper and then pulls his eyes up to his face. He looks confident and focused as he tackles the problems. 

Jisung stops what he is doing and looks at Minho. Minho's eyes remain where they are, right at Jisung's face. Looking away would have been the best idea, so things between them wouldn't get too awkward, but it is too late.

Jisung laughs and then stops, and for a few seconds keeps on a smile. "How is senior year? Is it hard?" Minho is happy that Jisung didn't question why he was looking his way. 

Minho answers, "I don't think it is hard. I think you will be able to handle it well because you do very well in school." And Jisung does well even when he doesn't have a roof over his head and faces extreme difficulties in his life. He is strong. 

  
  


The time nears midnight, and Jisung finishes his work before Minho. When Minho finally finishes, he puts his work in his backpack and turns to Jisung. "You can sleep on my bed."

"It is your bed," Jisung replies. 

"I can sleep in the guest bedroom."

"Perfect, I can sleep there." Jisung smiles. 

Minho nods and takes Jisung over to the guest bedroom. He watches with a smile spread on his lips as Jisung gets on the bed. 

"Comfy," Jisung states, "very comfy."

Minho laughs. "Will you be okay?" 

Jisung nods. "Yes, thank you."

"Good night, sleep well," Minho says.

"Good night to you too, see you in the morning."

Minho heads back into his room and gets in his bed. He could not fall asleep right then and there because Jisung is shining prominently in his mind. Their friendship only started today, but he feels so comfortable with him as if he knew him so much longer. It is only today they grew close, yet, Minho feels so strongly for him. 

Minho closes his eyes. It's so weird. But he is happy to have got this far with Jisung. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading~!! I hope you have a great day/night~!! ⭐️


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